Garden Grove gets resort with indoor water park

Great Wolf's resort in Grapevine, Texas. Courtesy of Great Wolf Resort

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GARDEN GROVE Great Wolf Resorts announced Monday that they will operate a $300 million, six-acre water park resort in the city that's a stones throw away from Disneyland.

Great Wolf Lodge in Garden Grove's International WEST resort area will be a full-service, family destination resort with 600 suites, 30,000 square feet of meeting space, 100,000 square feet indoor water park and additional indoor entertainment areas and amenities, officials said.

The addition of the Wisconsin-based park operator – which touts itself as "North America's largest family of indoor water park resorts" – pushes the water park resort closer to becoming a reality, despite a lawsuit from residents at an RV park. The RV Park will have to be eliminated to make room for the new resort.

Great Wolf owns and operates 12 indoor water park resorts throughout the country. The planned Garden Grove facility near the intersection of Harbor and Garden Grove boulevards would become the company's largest operation, said Steve Shattuck, director of communications for Great Wolf.

"We found that a lot of our resorts are successful because they are built in existing tourist destinations," Shattuck said, citing other resorts in Williamsburg, Va. and Sandusky, Ohio, which are both near large theme parks.

"People like to have those other opportunities that exist in tourist destinations," he said.

City staff visited a number of the company's properties and were impressed by the operator, said Economic Development Director Chet Yoshizaki. City officials and park developer Colorado-based McWhinney agreed that Great Wolf would be the most suitable to operate the park, he said.

"Not only do they operate a great water park but a number of amenities as part of the hotel that is conducive for kids and families,'' Yoshizaki said.

The water park will be reserved exclusively for guests of the hotel. Groundbreaking on the project is expected in 2012, and Great Wolf will remain a consulting entity during the facility's construction.

Alan Reay, a hotel consultant and president of Atlas Hospitality, said the facility makes sense because it is being built in an area that already has high tourist traffic. He said water parks are not typically built in high traffic areas because of the cost of land, and compared the planned project to Knott's Berry Farm, which is also "very close to Disney."

Still, Reay had some reservations.

"The big question is the cost, he said. "Can you make a good return based on the cost?"

Last month, the city paid $1.4 million to buy what city officials called the last piece of land needed to make way for the water park resort. The purchase meant the Humdinger Bar - a long-time fixture on Harbor Boulevard – will have to move.

The development was met with opposition after City Council members unanimously voted in favor of the park in May 2009, setting the project in motion. The city will have to vacate the Travel County RV Park. Residents there sued the city in August for fair relocation.

In April, council members approved paying McWhinney $42 million upfront after the hotel opens by issuing a bond.

Related Links

Great Wolf's resort in Grapevine, Texas. Courtesy of Great Wolf Resort
A rendering of the proposed water park hotel resort on Harbor Boulevard. PHOTO COURTESY OF MCWHINNEY
Great Wolf's resort in Grapevine, Texas. Courtesy of Great Wolf Resort
Great Wolf's resort in Grapevine, Texas. Courtesy of Great Wolf Resort
Residents of Travel Country RV Park have filed a lawsuit against the city of Garden Grove demading fair relocation benefits. Their RV park will eventually make way for a 600-room water park resort hotel. FILE PHOTO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Great Wolf's resort in Grapevine, Texas. Courtesy of Great Wolf Resort

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